What this DEI Expert Thinks Will Make the Funding Ecosystem More Equitable For Black Founders with Aiko Bethea S4 Ep.3
"If DEI is put as this divorced and separate thing over here, it won't last." Aiko Bethea
DEI influencer Aiko Bethea stops by WHERE'S THE FUNDING? to discuss the need for more transformational DEI in the current funding ecosystem and what needs to happen to make it more equitable. DEI as a field has been around since the late 1960s but has become a trending term since the summer of racial reckoning in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is a term used to describe policies and programs that promote the representation and participation of different groups of individuals, including people of different ages, races, ethnicities, abilities and disabilities, genders, religions, cultures, and sexual orientations. An analogy used to describe DEI is:
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- \nDiversity is where everyone is invited to the party \n
- \nInclusion means that everyone gets to contribute to the playlist \n
- \nEquity means that everyone has the opportunity to dance \n
The funding ecosystem and VC in particular have a DEI problem. It is plagued with inequality and a lack of (but growing in recent years) diversity of women investors and investors of color. The lack of diversity and lack of intentionality about creating more equity perpetuates a system that continues to be fueled by implicit and explicit biases that systematically deny funding to people of color specifically Black entrepreneurs and Black women entrepreneurs in particular faring the worst.
What you'll learn from Aiko in this episode:
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- Transformational vs transactional DEI, what's the difference? \n
- Defining what transformational change looks like \n
- How money can be used as a facade to avoid more meaningful DEI work \n
- And what it will take to achieve racial and gender equity in the funding ecosystem \n
To learn more about Aiko, visit her website at rarecoaching.net, follow her on Facebook at rarecoach, on Instagram at rare_coach, and follow her on LinkedIn.
Follow the podcast on Instagram at whereisthefunding_podcast and me, your host Michelle J. McKenzie on LinkedIn.